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Local Bookstore uses Social Media to save the day

December 17, 2009 By 1 Comment
Broadway Books, Portland Oregon

My new friend, Marie Trucco of the Greater Independence (Oregon) Business Incubator, posted a story on Facebook that I just had to pass along.

Broadway Books, Portland Oregon

Broadway Books, Portland Oregon

It is a story about blogs, burritos, and books, (I know – a seemingly odd threesome)  and how it saved Broadway Books, an independent bookstore in Portland.

You can read the entire article here.  It is a great read and made me want to stand up and cheer. :-)

A couple of interesting things stood out for me in the article.

  1. Turning to social media to help the business was more of a knee jerk reaction than a planned marketing campaign … therefore it was very authentic and heartfelt.  A good reminder for us who use social media for business that sometimes the best laid plans get trumped by total authenticity and passion.
  2. It brought a different set of buyers into the store than they usually got.  A great illustration of how you can start connecting with entirely new audiences using social media.
  3. The power of ‘going viral’.  What was posted by just one person … ended up being shared with thousands.  Who could ask for more?

While the local bookseller still has challenges ahead in this economy and social media is not necessarily a magic bullet, it looks like they are fully embracing it and it has made a real difference in their business.  Way to go Broadway!

I’d love to hear your stories of how you’re using social media in your business to attract new prospects and clients.  Just leave me a comment below.  And if you’d like to discuss your social media strategy, give us a call at 503.581.4554.  I look forward to the conversation.

~ Tim Fahndrich is the President and Chief Relationship officer with The Third River, Inc. a Salem Oregon web design and marketing firm.  He is passionate about people, technology, and relationships, and loves to help his clients harness the power of the web.

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What is #FollowFriday on Twitter?

May 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Twitter

TwitterI saw a friend of mine the other day and he looked at me funny and asked me, “Tim, just what the heck does #followfriday mean”?   He had seen this on my Facebook page and had no idea what it meant.

After a quick chuckle I realized that many of the terms that I use everyday in my business just don’t make sense to many of my friends who are not involved in internet marketing.

So feeling bad for excluding him, I quickly explained what #followfriday meant and how it is used on Twitter, one of the web’s most popular social networking sites.

So if you don’t know what #followfriday, hashtags, and Twitter are, here is a quick explanation;

  • Twitter is one of the fastest growing social networking sites that allows you to set up a free profile and connect with other people.  People that use Twitter are often called “Twitterers” or “Tweeps” or “Tweethearts”.
  • Twitter allows you to update your “what are you doing” status in 140 characters or less.  This is called a “Tweet”
  • To engage other “Tweeps” in conversation, include the “@” symbol in front of their Twitter name.
  • “#” is called a hashtag.  This is used when people what to associate their “Tweet” with a particular subject, event, show, etc.  This is then easily searched by going to Twitter Search and typing in the “#” + “followfriday” (example).  This is a great way to track all conversations happening around that particular topic
  • “#followfriday” happens on Fridays and is used in a Tweet when one Twitterer wants to recommend that you follow another Twitter.
  • Here’s an example that I used today: “If you’re not following @MichealSavoie, you should be. He is very much a servant at heart #followfriday”

If you’d like to know more about Twitter, I recommend a good starting point is a book by @JoelComm called Twitter Power: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time

You can also check out a recent video blog post about social networking sites and whether to connect or not.

Social networking is one of the best ways to develop relationships online for your business.  I highly recommend that you get started right away.

If you need help setting up and implementing a social networking strategy for your company, let us know and we’d be happy to talk about the options with you.

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